One list can be found by clicking on the image in the upper left or by going to Tea Party Patriots.

A second list may be found at Tea Party Day.

Be sensible. These parties are both a grassroots movement and the efforts of a number of regional and national groups with agendas. The followers of Ron Paul are heavily involved in some areas. The Libertarian Party is also an organizer in places. If Barry Obama’s “real” birth certificate is not something you worry about, or the actions of the Tri-Lateral Commission bore you, you might find some of the people at a Tea Party just a little off-putting.

A large number of people with a variety of beliefs are joining together for this movement. Bite your tongue or keep it firmly planted in your cheek if you must, but the overarching message of the movement must come through to the media and those undecideds. We are tired of graft, corruption, taxation and the lack of control over our own lives and our own earnings.

Play nice for the cameras. If interviewed, be concise and direct. Taxes, pork and government out of control. A, B and C.

This video uses some of the pictures I took at the April 15 Rochester Tea Party. It was put together by an ex-Marine.

On a bitterly cold March day, 40 of us braved the elements to hold Rochester, New York’s first Tea Party protest. Governor Patterson was in town, just down the street, and we wanted to let him know we were unhappy about his budget for 2009. New taxes, new fees, and the same old politics as usual in Albany.

We also were angry about the actions of the Obama administration and our elected representatives in Congress. Spending bills had shot through Congress without time for evaluation and consideration, and without any effort to include the Republican minority. Promise after promise that Barry Obama had made during his campaign had already been broken in less than the first 100 days of his administration.

We listened to speakers, sang patriotic songs and marched with our homemade signs. We received a little local press but the leftists demanding tax increases were far more numerous and they received most of the attention.

The dedicated volunteers who put that Tea Party together resolved to join the national movement and hold a second on April 15. It was a workday, but it was also the day income taxes were due to be paid to both New York State and the Federal Government.

A great deal of work went into the April 15 event. The day was sunny, but a cold wind was blowing. That might be seen as a prediction of the future for all Americans if the current policies and trends are not reversed.

We rallied first at a park, and over one thousand strong we marched. A second ralley with speeches was held at the County Office Building. We marched again, to City Hall where the final set of speakers addressed the thousand plus standing there.

Why go to all this trouble? Just what were the concerns of the people who protested at Rochester’s Tea Party?

The protesters came from all over the political spectrum. Amidst those differences, there were some common themes.

We are concerned at the amount of debt that the United States is going to incur, and the tax payments that the next generations will be forced to pay to service that debt.

We are concerned that state and local governments continue to raise taxes and fees.

We believe that government is being conducted in the same old way when it has to change.

We are upset that so many political appointees and politicians are tax cheats and corrupt.

Term limits were a popular subject. Cutting government spending was another.

The people at the Rochester Tea Party were mostly folks that had never been to a protest in their lives. Mark that statement. Never been to a protest. Imagine the anger and worry that would impel these people to come to the Tea Party.

Governments, at all levels, have come to a place where voters and taxpayers feel left out of the process. The people who marched feel that they no longer control the people who are being elected. They are bewildered and anxious about the changes that they have seen in the practice of what is supposed to be a free and democratic political process. Wry jokes were being made about ending up on some government list for being at the Tea Party.

Politicians and bureaucrats routinely ignore most taxpayers and voters. Once you are elected to office, you have an overwhelming chance of staying in office until you choose to leave. If you are a bureaucrat, practicly nothing can be done to remove you from your position or deny you a raise. For the people at the Tea Party, government has become something to distrust, perhaps an enemy, but certainly no friend.

That is not what our Founders intended. This must change and it will change. July 4 is the next set of Tea Parties on the schedule nationally. Between now and then, the movement will grow and July 4 will see Americans exercising their rights like never before and vowing to take back their government.

This is 2009 information.

UPDATE: 4-17-2009 20:00

• 538 reports 306 sites and 262,025 attending
• Pajamas Media reports 617,568 attending
• Jim Geraghty at NRO reports 341,477 attending

UPDATES marked *** and notes on them will follow the table.

The massive number of Tea Party protests held on Tax Day are over. While the counts are unofficial, there are some numbers available.

The city counts for the nationwide Tea Party protests yesterday can be found at Freedom Press. I have used their numbers as of 5:30 yesterday.

Please feel free to check my addition, and totals. I tried to see what Pajamas TV had but their site is blank at this moment. It appears as if this list is short about 250 protests.

STATE	PARTIES	ATTENDANCE
Alabama	5	11,800
Alaska	2	1,500
Arizona ***	7	17,300
Arkansas ***	5	11,500
California	16	40,400
Colorado	8	14,670
Connecticut	4	7,150
Delaware	1	500
Florida	8	10,900
Georgia ***	14	26,300
Hawaii	1	500
Idaho	3	5,800
Illinois	6	8,300
Indiana	4	10,750
Iowa ***	4	4,500
Kansas ***	12	18,390
STATE	PARTIES	ATTENDANCE
Kentucky	3	4,250
Louisiana	3	7,400
Maine	1	300
Maryland	3	2,600
Massachusetts	2	3,300
Michigan	6	6,450
Minnesota	3	10,900
Mississippi	3	2,850
Missouri ***	6	17,200
Montana	4	1,060
Nebraska	2	2,700
Nevada	3	7,075
New Hampshire	4	3,900
New Jersey ***	11	4,710
New Mexico	2	3,500
New York ***	29	27,205
STATE	PARTIES	ATTENDANCE
North Carolina	11	9,850
North Dakota	0	0
Ohio	8	20,730
Oklahoma	7	8,710
Oregon	3	3,780
Pennsylvania	7	3,850
Rhode Island ***	2	4,000
South Carolina	1	6,000
South Dakota ***	2	1,600
Tennessee	4	15,500
Texas	18	64,100
Utah	2	2,200
Vermont	1	900
Virginia	5	6,800
Washington State	9	18,200
West Virginia	3	1,174
STATE	PARTIES	ATTENDANCE
Wisconsin	5	9,600
Wyoming ***	7	2,136
District of Columbia	1	1,000
TOTAL U.S.	278	475,820

NOTES:
Arizona updated by e-mail report.
Arkansas updated from comments.
Georgia updated from comments.
Iowa updated from comments.
Kansas and Missouri updated and corrected from comments.
New Jersey updated from comments.
New York updated by e-mail report.
Rhode Island updated from comments.
South Dakota updated from comments.
Wyoming updated by e-mail report.

The 2010 Tea Party can be found at this link.

One of the signs from the April 15 Tea Party in Rochester, NY

The 40 who braved the cold in March for the Rochester NY Tea Party were joined today by over 1,000 more Americans fed up with politics as usual.

The Geneseo College Republican Club held the traditional tea dump at the April 15 Tea Party protest in Rochester, NY.

It’s sunny and in the 50’s with a brisk wind here in Rochester, NY. Three stops were planned for the Tea Party, a downtown park, the County Office Building and City Hall. About 600 at the park heard speakers and sang songs. They marched down a closed Main Street to the County Building for another rally and grew to around 1,000. By the time the marchers moved to City Hall, the crowd had swelled even further.

One of the signs from the April 15, 2009 Tea Party in Rochester, NY.

The crowd held all races, and every age group from toddlers to the elderly. The Geneseo College Republican Club marched with Ron Paul supporters, Libertarian Party folks, and ordinary Americans at their first protest.

No protest on behalf of liberty would be complete without a Liberty Belle cheering for freedom.

Bob Lonsberry on 1180, WHAM, is covering the event from his window seat on Main.

Rev. Tommy Davis, one of several persons of color at the April 15 Tea Party in Rochester, NY, addresses the crowd.

PRESS

• WXXI – PBS
• R News
• Democrat & Chronicle
• Channel 13 WHAM

Here are the collected photos.

Back when Andrew Sullivan was a conservative, he sent lots of traffic this way with a number of links. So, I feel a certain sadness with his change of perspective over the last few years.

Andrew wrote a piece titled The Tea Tantrum Movement for The Atlantic. It is his take on the Tea Party protest movement based on an admitted hour or so of on-line research.

He professes to have emerged from his rigorous course of research perplexed, bothered and bewildered.

He describes the movement as “some kind of amorphous, generalized rage on the part of those who were used to running the country and now don’t feel part of the culture at all”. He calls it “adolescent, unserious hysteria”.

Andrew makes the error that most liberals insist upon, that this is a movement of the Republican Party. Had he looked at the existing documentation of the hundreds of Tea Parties already held, he would have clearly seen that the movement is made up of some very average people, people who have never “run” the country. Perhaps he did look, but chose not to engage his intellect.

He even manages to make a serious historical error. The men who conducted the original Tea Party were NOT illegal immigrants, but Englishmen fed up with having their rights trampled by a distant government.

That is the bone of contention for Americans today. Our government has grown distant and is failing to respect our rights, the rights we have enjoyed from the founding of this nation.

Andrew needed to come up with a few hundred words for his paying gig, so he slapped something on the wall with the hope it would stick. It’s brown, and sticky, and smells. I would have hope for a little more reflection and honesty from a man who I once admired.

The 2010 Rochester Tea Party can be found at this link.

Click for photos from the March 11, 2009 Tea Party protest.

The Rochester, NY Tea Party protest held yesterday was a resounding success. Over 40 concerned citizens ranging in age from college students to seniors met at the Main Street bridge over the Genesee River to dump tea into the water.

Speakers detailed the historic Boston Tea Party and linked its message to current events. A short march was held, to the corner of Clinton and Main, in front of the convention center where NY Governor Patterson was appearing.

The “Fair Share” leftists were inside, out of the wind, pushing their message of punishing the successful with higher taxes. Outside, the Gadsden flag, “Don’t Tread On Me!” flew proudly along with the American flag. Signs protesting New York’s tax burden and the burden on future generations imposed by the stimulus package were held high, and passersby honked their horns in support.

Rochester Tea Party

News Coverage

• R News
• WHEC – NBC’s local affiliate
• WHAM – ABC’s local affiliate

Keep in mind that links to news stories will often expire with time or be placed into a pay-for-view part of the media’s site.

The next Rochester Tea Party is planned for April 15.

For a list of all the events, please check Pajamas TV

March 6, 2009

• Salt Lake Tea Party – 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM MDT, Utah State Capitol West Stairs
  Contact: David Kirkham saltlaketeaparty@gmail.com

March 7, 2009

• Monterey Bay Tea Party – 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM PDT, Monterey’s Window On The Bay located on Del Monte Ave – across from McDonalds
  Contact: Melanie: teapartymontereyco@sbcglobal.net or Cindy Stanley: 831-760-2288 Cell, speak-up-america@sbcglobal.net
• South Florida Tea Party – 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM, SE Corner of Flamingo Road and Pines Blvd. Pembroke Pines, FL
  Contact: Chris Colina at ccolina5@yahoo.com
• Lafayette, LA Tea Party – 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM CST, Veterans Park, 200 Feu Follett Road, Lafayette, LA
  Contact: Leslie Alexander, (337) 258-8852, clesliealexander@yahoo.com
• Green Bay, Wisconsin Tea Party – 11 am, Titletown Brewing Co. Restaurant, 200 Dousman St, Green Bay
  Contact: marc@savardforcongress.com

March 11, 2009

• Rochester NY Tea Party – 4:30pm to 7pm, Meet at Lawyers Co-op Park (next to the Southwest corner of the Main St. Bridge)
  Contact: For right now, contact us

March 13, 2009

• New York City Tea Party – 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM, at “Charging Bull” at the northern end of Bowling Green
  Contact: Robin Flannery, phone: 631-727-4742, e-mail: Robinflannery@optonline.net

March 15, 2009

• Cincinnati, Ohio Tea Party – 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM, Fountain Square Corner of Fifth and Vine Streets in the middle of downtown Cincinnati
  Contact: mike@cincinnatiteaparty.org

My mother video taped the Tea Party in Phila. on Sat Feb 28th. It’s on Youtube.

July Linett (www.becauseitstrue.org)

The first round of Tea Party protests have been held. Now, what happens?

There are some additional protests already scheduled. The organizers of the original national movement are also talking about a new round on April 15, which is a Wednesday.

I like an April 15 date. It has symbolism and is far enough away that organizing the event should be far less hectic for the people doing that work. Those folks, in 44 plus cities, are owed a big Thank You for their work on the original set of protests. The only drawback is that it is not on the weekend. Working people cannot take time off even when they agree wholeheartedly with the cause.

We need to replicate the original protests in the same cities, with a few needing better venues. More media coverage and more folks attending. Remember, this is not, repeat not, just a Republican issue. Most Democrats and independents are going to get shafted by the stimulus package and they should be urged to participate.

We also need additional cities for protests. That means someone or a group of someones will have to step up and organize each event.

I cannot stress any more strongly that media is important. For suggestions about what needs doing, see the advice provided here.

Let’s please keep this a grassroots movement. The established political powers from both parties have little incentive to mend their ways. If you make this about Republicans versus Democrats, all you do is trade one set of big spenders and pork producers for another. Few politicians on either side of the aisle have clean hands when it comes to earmarks, pork, and wasteful spending.

Mark Tapscott has some suggestions about the future of the Tea Party movement. He is correct that the leadership of the Republican Party must be brought into agreement with the membership of the Party. We cannot tolerate the old way of doing things in Washington and in our state capitals. Our money, our future and that of our children and grandchildren are at risk.

Eric Florak says it well:

Call it what you will , but conservatives organizing protests is something unheard of in recent times. That it happens at all with conservatives, is a huge story. we expect the left to be generating these kind of things. Not the right.

It’s also true that that lack of protest over the years, probably accounts for a large part of the amateurish nature of the whole thing.

This is out of character for conservatives. That they do reach so far out of their character to do things like this, indicates the degree of anger going on. As I’ve suggested before in these spaces, anger is something which is not to be underestimated, as motivation.

I suspect this is going to be a turning point in our history . I have very little in the way of doubt that these organizations will continue to grow and learn and gain influence.

Mountain people will tell you that avalanches start with something as small as a raindrop , or a pebble.

There are more protests being organized nationwide. Keep looking at these sites for more information:

New American Tea Party
Pajamas’s Media

Christian Science Monitor coverage

From Glenn Reynolds

some thoughts from human-rights blogger Robert Mayer:

I just want to offer you and the tea party protesters some words of encouragement. As someone who has studied (and blogged) protest as an act of democratic revolution and people power in the post-Soviet area, I know a lot about the dynamics of mass civil society unrest, government transition, etc…

What we are seeing now is truly huge POTENTIAL for massive civil unrest against the American government gone lunatic with spending. Realistically, 400-1000 people at a protest, even at a dozen protests across the country, will do nothing to change the minds of our idiot leaders.

However, it creates the POTENTIAL that each protest could have a million. The Orange Revolution in Ukraine did not start out with two million people camping in tents in downtown Kiev. It started with only a few hundred diehard activists.

Here is a list of places to see the results from today’s Tea Parties, and to follow up on those activities.

PHOTOS

• Pereiraville – Orlando FL
• Un-Liberaled Woman – Chicago IL
• Michelle Malkin – a variety of locations
• diggz6873 – San Diego – not a separate set for now
• TCUnation – St. Louis – not a separate set for now
• jmdurbin – St. Louis
• Collection from various sites on TCOTTV
• chuckdevore – Washington DC
• Bullneck – Washington DC – not a separate set for now
• str8jacket_atl – Atlanta GA
• bigcat32 – Cleveland OH
• jlilyea – Washington DC – not a separate set for now
• she_knits_at_traff ic_lights’ – San Diego – not a separate set for now
• melanieann79 – Lansing MI – not a separate set for now
• Pixel & Verse – Chicago IL – not a separate set for now
• bour3 – Denver CO

• Tampa Bay Online
• Detroit Free Press
• St. Louis Post-Dispatch
• MSNBC
• WOWT Omaha NB
• KTRK ABC13 Houston TX
• Contra Costa Times

• New American Tea Party
• Pajamas Media American Tea Party Coverage
• Tips for Tea Party Organizers on the Media
• Sunlight Foundation
• Citizens Against Government Waste

• Twitter search
• RSS feed for current blog posts on Tea Party
• Nationwide Chicago Tea Party
• American Tea Party
• Top Conservatives

• San Francisco Chronicle politics blog
• Huffington Post
• Tapped